A mother of two stole £45,000 from the Newmarket catering company where she worked by paying herself a “shadow salary”, a court has heard.

Angela Garton, 37, made unauthorised transfers from the account of Wendy Milbank Ltd, now known as FoodAmour, into her own bank over a period of almost four years.

On Thursday, Garton, of Portland Road, Newmarket, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court and was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Mr Recorder Bruce Houlder QC ordered Garton, living on benefits, to repay at the rate of £40 a month the full £45,540 she stole from the company.

Garton, who will also be under Probation Service supervision for 12 months, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to theft from an employer.

The court heard how Garton worked part-time for the company for five and a half years, and had used her position dealing with accounts to transfer sums roughly equivalent to her legitimate salary to her own bank account and also used cheques signed by one of the directors.

Prosecuting, Neil King said: “In many ways the theft was very simple. What she did was effectively pay herself a shadow salary.”

The thefts were committed between December 31, 2009 and September 2, 2013 and were finally uncovered by accountants.

In mitigation, Hugh Vass said: “This is not someone who is living the high life at someone else’s expense. What it amounted to was eeking out an existence with two young children.”

Despite thefts continuing for almost four years, it had been inevitable that Garton would be eventually identified, he said.

Payments into her bank account had begun innocently as salary being paid in advance but later beame in addition to her legitimate salary.

Mr Recorder Houlder said: “You have come today extremely close to an immediate sentence of imprisonment.